With the Election Commission saying that linking of voter IDs with Aadhaar databases would be done according to the prevailing law, the Congress Tuesday called it a “clear acknowledgement” of the charge made by Congress and Leader of Opposition in LS Rahul Gandhi about “the suspicious and dubious nature of voter lists”. In a statement, Congress’s Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts (EAGLE) said: “It is a clear acknowledgement of the charge that the Congress party and the Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi have been making about the suspicious and dubious nature of our voter lists, as witnessed in the recent Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha elections. We continue to demand that the Election Commission make public the entire electoral photo rolls of Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections.” Underlining that the EC must ensure that no Indian should be deprived of their vote and address privacy concerns, Rahul Gandhi said that his party and the INDIA bloc parties have been “repeatedly raising issues of voter lists, including abnormally high additions, unexpected deletions and duplicate voter ID numbers”. “While Aadhaar may address duplicate voter ID numbers, the poorest and most marginalised are more likely to face difficulties in the linking process,” he said. In a post on X, Gandhi said, “Now that the ECI has acknowledged the problem, I reiterate my earlier demand that it should also address the issue of additions and deletions, starting by publicly sharing the entire electoral photo rolls of the Maharashtra 2024 Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha elections.” Welcoming the EC’s decision, the Congress’s EAGLE said in a statement: “The Congress party urges the Election Commission to consult with all political parties and stakeholders, and assure them that there are sufficient guardrails to not deny the right to vote to even a single eligible citizen as well as the privacy of any single voter is not breached through this process.” The statement said that the Congress’s main charge was that there was an “abnormal increase” in new voters enrolled in just five months between the LS and Maharashtra Assembly elections. “Fake or duplicate voters is a problem of one person having multiple voter-ids. The Election Commission has acknowledged this problem of ‘one person many voter-IDs’ raised by the Congress, which can be eliminated through de-duplication using Aadhaar,” it said.
